Help Your Fellow Animals

Hello ATS.

A short while ago I witnessed an adult Labrador get hit by a car moving roughly 30-35mph. It was on a busy road that I take on the way home. I watched as numerous cars attempted, aggressively, to go around this poor dog which was trying to get up on all fours but sadly could not.
As we slowed down (missus was driving) I jumped out of our car and ran to the dog, picked it up in my arms and carried it to the side of the road where there was some grass. I layed this poor dog down and gently rested it's head on my arm and checked it's collar for name/address ect but unfortunately found nothing.
I stared into it's eyes and it was almost like he was saying thank you to me.

The reason i'm posting this is because it got me really upset and confused.
A few people had stopped, including the poor lady who accidentally struck it with her car and came to the side of the road where me and this dog were laying. I stayed for 10 minutes whilst the lady rang the RSPCA but my partner had to go to work so I told the lady that I have to go now, layed the dogs head gently on the grass and went home.
My missus went to work and I couldn't hold it in any longer. It wasn't my dog but i'm not ashamed to say, I cried for this poor dog and it shocked me. Why am I sad. I love animals but I never thought I would be like this. I've seen cats get run over and i've taken them to their owners but I never cried.
I've been suffering from depression for 10+ years and maybe that was a part of it but I just felt for this dog and it's owners.
I'm not really sure why i'm even writing this thread but I just needed to get it off my chest I guess.

Has anybody else been in a situaton like this?
What was your reaction when you had time to think?

It got me thinking about death, what happens and all that. What happens to a dogs soul. Is it different from ours... too many questions swirling around my head...

I sit here now and think how lucky we are to be alive, yet being depressed makes you want the opposite... When this dog was laying with me, I didn't care about anything other than this poor animal.
Sometimes I wish I had the ET finger and I could've just made him better but now i'm just being silly.

If you see an animal in distress, please don't just drive around it. Help it.

Thanks for listening

(Sorry if I don't get round to replying, i'm not very good with words and i'm sort of browsing the boards and getting some of the chores around the house done at the same time. I will star the posts as always.)

reply to post by SilentE


What happened to the dog, you never said? Was he okay, did the lady take care of him or did he die?

It's really sad in our day and age that we're too busy to even stop and help another earthling who's in painful distress and in need of critical care to care at all, so sad. Some people do care, like you, you felt that beings soul and they have souls, I believe that with all my heart and know it. I had one of my deceased animals to come to me in a dream and tell me thanks for taking care of me moma, I love you and went back down her trail to HOME on the other side.

Maybe it's because I believe dogs give unconditionally love, seemingly no matter what, and ask for so little in return.
I'm sorry your hurting, but you did the right thing in helping him. Did you ever find out what happened to him?

reply to post by SilentE


Thank you for stopping and caring about that dog. Your story touches my soul. I am an animal lover and I would have stopped to.

There are many who drove by...and didn't stop...that is truly sad.

I know this woman and when she was younger; she was having a nervous breakdown and she was suicidal.

She laid down in the middle of a road on a busy highway...and no one stopped to help her...the cars just kept driving around her; this went on for a few minutes; she finally got up; went home and sought professional help; today she is very healthy and successful.

My point? A lot of humanity is simply too busy and selfish to care.

reply to post by SilentE

I'm so glad you stopped... I'm sure meant the world to the dog. I do hope the dog can be saved, but if not, I have no doubt the dog is in a good place now.

This year my cat got killed. I am not comparing the loss of a pet to the loss of a child (completely different) - but my love for my cat was as great as anyone's love for their child. A driver killed her. Scratch that... a MONSTER killed her. The person that hit her didn't stop. I live in a "20's plenty" zone. Either the driver didn't care seeing my kitty sunbathing in the quiet cul-de-sac where I live, and decided just to run over her... or the driver was razing like a manic in an area where kids and pets play outside the houses.

I was crushed, and still am (crying as I type), but the fact that the person that hit her didn't even care enough to come and knock on my door... to say "I'm so sorry"... or even better... stopping to telling my feline girl "sorry"... it just makes it so much more horrible.

She was a rescue, and I only got 6 years with her... and people behaved in the same terrible way when I rescued her, as when she passed... She was being kicked about by adult men - and there were lots of people around and not a single person cared. I saw them kicking something, at that point (not being close) all I knew was they were kicking something living. I screamed like a banshee and ran like a maniac - picking her up and wispering how sorry I was and that everything was going to be ok from now on.

So thank... thank you for stopping and thank you for giving the comfort, that I'm sure was so gratefully received!

(And if the doggie passed, maybe he'll be back to say thank you!)

It is true that many people in this world still hold that spiritual connection to all living beings. Your feelings of sorrow and pain display outwardly that you are one of these people. Be proud of yourself for having the capacity for unconditional love and know tears are nothing to be shameful of.

I must admit that reading your post brought tears to my eyes as nothing deserves to suffer needlessly. It also brought back memories of Cheyenne, my long time companion of 12 yrs who dies in my arms of natural causes in 2010. I recall the helplessness I felt and the anguish over the loss.

May you find some peace in the knowledge that your actions, however small they might have been, gave that dog comfort in its time of need. Your actions make you a champion for a needy soul and for that many out here are grateful to you for having the strength and ability to do so.

Whatever your faith, if any, bless you and Merry Christmas.

Thank you all for your kind words. It really does put a smile back on my face seeing these posts and knowing there is still good people out there.

I'm not sure what the outcome was. I had left him breathing with the lady who had struck him, her passenger and the lady who was driving the car behind. I'm sure they looked after him and I can only hope he survived.
I will ring the RSPCA tomorrow and ask them.

Going over the posts in this thread has got me all watery eyed again. It's good to know there are people who will do the same and who feel the same and have been through similar experiences. Life can be hard sometimes but we have to remember the good times.

I cannot thank you all enough for your comments. It has really cheered me up. I have things I would like to say to you all but when it comes to writing them, I cannot put words together..

So I will just say thank you again and a merry christmas to you all!

I saw an injured cat years ago on the side of the road and it died in my arms while I spoke softly to it. Poor kitty. At least it didn't die alone.

I am like you too. I could never pass by an animal in this situation, it would hurt my soul too much.

One morning many years ago I once stopped and helped a dog that was run over by a lady in an SUV that didn't stop. I wasn't alone in stopping, another guy had watched it happen and stopped as well, and it was with great luck that a vet hospital was just half a block away. I ran to get the vet while the other guy stayed with the dog. After the vet came back to the area where the dog was lying (he rolled to the side of the road), the lady that hit him came back and said she couldn't keep driving and had to come back for the dog, she was a dog owner too and would be upset if someone would do the same to her dog that she loved. The dog was put on a stretcher and brought into the vets office and the owners of the dog were contacted. I remember the dog was going into shock and the vet saying he had a broken hip. I don't know what happened after this, I hope the owners did everything they could to save this dog. The thing about this was, I saw this exact scene happen in a dream 2 months earlier. And after watching this all play out in real life and the way it affected the lady driver, IMO it was a spiritual event to teach this lady that hit this dog with a deep spiritual lesson, whatever it was that she needed to learn. How sad that this animal was on the painful side of this lesson for this woman.

I do believe animals have souls and I do believe we are all together again in the afterlife. I feel deep in my heart that regardless of having two or four legs, we are all equal and we all need to look after each other. I take in abandoned and homeless animals, I have 15 right now and will only give them up to someone who is willing to give them as good a home as I can give them.

I agree that the people who do this are numb inside and they need our prayers, and maybe these things happen because it's the universe/God/higher self's way of waking them up.

It's really good to know that there are others out there that feel as deep as a connection to animals as I always have.